Lucky dog.

avatar for shadowcat
shadowcat
Atlanta suburb
Strip club owner skimmed cash to pamper pooch, pay kids' tuition

Robert Snell/ The Detroit News

Detroit— Pebbles lived the good life, lavished with gifts from a prominent Detroit strip club owner.

The strip club boss paid for Pebbles' doctor visits, personal security and shopping trips for "fetish toys," according to federal prosecutors.

But Pebbles was no stripper. Pebbles was the strip club poobah's pooch.

That's according to the U.S. Department of Justice, which wants a federal judge to sentence Orchard Lake resident Nicholas Faranso to 37-46 months in prison for his role in skimming more than $574,000 from his businesses and cheating the tax man.

The government's sentencing memo, filed last week in federal court in Detroit, colorfully — and sarcastically — chronicles how Faranso used an elaborate computer scheme to siphon money from his strip clubs: Tycoon's on Eight Mile and BT's Lounge in Dearborn.

The computer program was designed to remove part of the clubs' actual sales to make it look like the clubs received less income between 2001 and 2004.

Faranso, 53, was indicted April 7, 2010, on one count of conspiracy and three counts of filing false corporate and personal tax returns. He pleaded guilty to the conspiracy charge in January and will be sentenced Aug. 4.

Faranso asked to be sentenced to probation.

He used corporate funds to pay for Pebbles' vet bills, shopping excursions at pet stores and an invisible fence, prosecutors said. Strip club cash also paid for his daughters' private school tuition and a $1,492 photo of his four daughters.

He deducted the photography bill on corporate tax returns. He claimed the expense was for "decorations."

"Given the statements by Faranso and his family that he maintained strict separation of his work life and family life, it seems highly unlikely that he used the photo of his daughters to decorate his strip club," the government's trial attorney Kenneth Vert wrote in the sentencing memo.

U.S. District Judge John Corbett O'Meara will sentence Faranso on Aug. 4 in Ann Arbor.

8 comments

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avatar for Dudester
Dudester
13 years ago
Recently, there was a story posted here about a New York strip club that took in 40k a day. Imagine how tempting it would be to launder some of that money, or skim it and use it for other purposes.
avatar for JuiceBox69
JuiceBox69
13 years ago
It would be to tempting dudester! I know deep down I would do it! then I would go by all my girls fir coats just like a true greezy pimp : )
avatar for vincemichaels
vincemichaels
13 years ago
Good old Nick. Nick has always been a sleazeball. It's funny to hear how he spent the money he skimmed from the club.
avatar for Book Guy
Book Guy
13 years ago
I don't exactly get why he didn't simply take CASH from the days' intakes, bring the CASH home, and spend the CASH on his doggie and daughters. What uh part of uh UNTRACEABLE CASH doesn't he understand?
avatar for canny
canny
13 years ago
I agree with Book Guy. There can't be a strip club in existence where the owner doesn't skim cash out of the till every night. How can you tell how much cash a strip club takes in?
avatar for samsung1
samsung1
13 years ago
makes you wonder how safe it is investing your money in RICK
avatar for vincemichaels
vincemichaels
13 years ago
Book Guy, as I recall the earlier story about the owner. His computer program removed the records of the sales. Just taking cash, would create a shortfall in the receipts, which would be much more noticeable. The Feds did their investigation after being tipped off what to look for.
avatar for georgmicrodong
georgmicrodong
13 years ago
VM, his mistake was in *making* a record of all of the sales in the first place. Sure, you gotta make most if 'em, but if the cash register never makes a record of one to begin with, there's no removal needed.
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